Hurricane conditions worsen in Texas and Louisiana

New Orleans, Louisiana (WiredPRNews.com) — On Sunday night, the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch on the eastern coast of Texas and western Louisiana. That means that there is a possibility of hurricane conditions accelerating from Tropical Storm Edouard in the next 24 hours in these areas.

Edouard has been classified as a class 5 tropical storm during the 2008 hurricane season packing sustained winds of 50 mph. Forecasters expect the storm to strengthen as it can reach the strength of a near-hurricane making a landfall on Tuesday in Texas. A tropical storm warning was issued from west of the Mississippi River to Cameron, Louisiana. The warm waters of the gulf are favorable for Edouard to become stronger in the upcoming days, says Rebecca Waddington, a meteorologist in Miami at the National Hurricane Center. She also urged residents in the path of the storm to keep a watch on it and warned that tropical storms may be quite powerful.

At around 10 pm, Edouard was 80 miles southeast-east of Mississippi River and nearly 390 miles east of Galveston, Texas. It had been moving west at a speed of 5 mph. While southwestern Texas is still recovering from the damage caused by Hurricane Dolly last month, the other part of the coast faces rain and a possible storm surge. Krista Piferrer, the spokesperson for Texas Governor Rick Perry, said on Sunday that emergency management officers for the state are getting updates via conference calls with the National Weather Service. Many natural gas and offshore oil drilling platforms in the gulf are in the way of the storm.

Shell Oil Company did not make any changes by Sunday afternoon but officials were keeping a watch on the storm. Exxon Mobil Corp. did not evacuate workers or cut production by Sunday evening but was preparing for the heavy winds and rain and is considering whether they should evacuate workers.